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Brazilian Vocalist and Cellist Dom La Nena Announces New Album Titled 'SOYO'

Brazilian vocalist and cellist Dom La Nena has announced a new album titled "SOYO" via Six Degrees Records, which will be released March 3. Co-produced by La Nena and Brazilian composer/singer/guitarist Marcelo Camelo, "SOYO" is the follow-up to her debut album, "Ela."La Nena’s first album got the 25-year-old a lot of attention. NPR hailed it as a “sonic masterpiece” and has drawn comparisons such as “a young Brian Wilson” ("Wall Street Journal"), “a burnished, bossa Joanna Newsom” ("Time Out New York") and “the shadow of Lhasa” ("Voir"). "The New York Times" wrote, “[Dom La Nena] joins the sorority of whisperers that includes singers like Juana Molina, Hope Sandoval and Jane Birkin.”Co-produced by La Nena and Brazilian songwriter Marcelo Camelo, formerly of the Brazilian band Los Hermanos, the album features long, wandering melodies ornamented by cellos, pianos and other chamber folk elements coming and going throughout.Recorded in Lisbon, Paris and Mexico City; mixed in Sao Paolo; and mastered in Miami, "SOYO" is international to its core. This is something La Nena reflects in her music, with tales of vast distances, longing and nostalgia.
By Jaime Prisco

  • Gotham Chamber Opera Presents 'The Tempest Songbook' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Co-Production with Martha Graham Dance Company, Directed by Luca Veggetti

    Gotham Chamber Opera’s final production of the 2014-15 season will be "The Tempest Songbook.""The Tempest Songbook" is comprised of incidental music for "The Tempest" composed in 1695 and attributed to Henry Purcell and Kaija Saariaho's 2004 "Tempest Songbook" for soprano, baritone and period instrument ensemble. This is the show's U.S. and world-stage premiere.The performance will be a co-production with the Martha Graham Dance Co. The Martha Graham Dance Co. has received international acclaim from audiences in more than 50 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The Gotham Chamber Opera has also received many accolades and has been recognized as a pioneer in creating opera productions in alternative venues."The Tempest Songbook" will explore the themes of William Shakespeare’s "The Tempest" using dance, movement and song. The singers and dancers will express the words and actions of various characters, which will result in a lyrical vision of Shakespeare's iconic play."I am thrilled to be invited to share my vision for 'The Tempest Songbook' with Gotham Chamber Opera," said director and choreographer Luca Veggetti. "Through my association with Kaija Saariaho, I became acquainted with her 'Tempest Songbook' and her suggested pairings with Purcell, which serves as the starting point for the production."
    By Jaime Prisco

  • Lego Organ Being Created for Lego Replica of Durham Cathedral

    Organ builders Harrison and Harrison have begun work on the first instrument made out of Legos. A Lego organ is being built to go inside a Lego model of Durham Cathedral in England.The organ is a Lego replica of the instrument built by Henry Wallis in 1876 and restored by Harrison in 1905 and again in 1978. The brick model of Durham Cathedral is being constructed to raise money for the cathedral’s Open Treasure Project. The Open Treasure program aims to transform some of the Cathedral’s most historic spaces, creating an exhibition route that will include the Monks’ Dormitory and finish in the Great Kitchen, where the treasures of St. Cuthbert will be displayed, alongside other cathedral treasures and visiting exhibitions.Gaye Kirby, head of development at Durham Cathedral, said, “It is wonderful that Harrison’s have chosen to recreate their magnificent organ in miniature in our Lego Cathedral and we are very grateful to them for their generous donation and support of the Open Treasure appeal.”
    By Jaime Prisco